The only daily Irish-language newspaper in Northern Ireland will close at the end of the year.

Eight jobs, four of which are reporters, along with some part-time positions will be lost as a result of the demise Lá Nua (The Day) after more than two decades.

Financial support from sponsoring body Foras na Gaeilge, which helped maintain the title, has been withdrawn and the last edition will be on sale tomorrow.

Aine McEntee, representative for the paper's National Union of Journalists chapel, said she was bitterly disappointed at the job losses especially so close to Christmas.

"This is terrible news for the staff who have worked so hard to keep this paper going in extremely difficult and challenging conditions," she said.

"The newspaper market and the media sector as a whole are experiencing difficult times as job losses threatened in UTV, Trinity Mirror and Johnston Press shows.

"Staff in Lá Nua must be praised for all their hard work and commitment in producing a first class newspaper in Irish.

"Northern Ireland has witnessed a huge growth in the number of Irish speakers and schools and it is clear that a market for news provided for in Irish exists."

Bob Miller, chair of the NUJ's Belfast and District branch, added: "The union notes with regret that Lá Nua is to cease publishing with the loss of eight jobs.

"This is indeed a very sad day for Irish language print journalism and for the dedicated staff who have worked ceaselessly to bring out a quality newspaper."

Mairtin O Muilleoir, managing director of parent company Belfast Media Group, said there should be a daily news service in Irish and was confident that a new daily Irish newspaper would resurface in the near future.

Part-owned by the Belfast Media Group and based in Donegal and the Northern Ireland capital, Lá Nua was launched in 1984 to cater for the increasing number of people opting to learn the Irish language.

Foras na Gaeilge is now offering almost £360,000 a year in grant aid for a weekly newspaper and online news service as it believes the market is not big enough for a daily.

No-one from Foras na Gaeilge was available for comment.